Lion's Gift

Chapter 18: Unknown Point of View

My mind wakes up and I regain memories from sitting and staring at the others in the main hall of the castle, startling me. It seems like only seconds have passed since I lay myself down in the common hall of the castle to sleep with the rest of the Fallen Dark royalty, but from my sudden rush of memories, my body and mind in a slumber but my eyes wide open, tells me that it has been many mortal years. I sit straight on the second throne on the dais, not having moved even an inch from my original position.

I look at my wings. Though my mind and eyes are awake and under my control, the rest of my body isn't. The glamour seems to have frozen in time just like me, so my wings, skin, and eyes look like those of the Fallen Dark.

Instead of my healthy pale skin, the magic makes it look like it is gray and dead like the skin of those around me. My wings, which are normally an inky black, surrounded with an untainted Dark aura made of shadows, look like they have feathers made of tar and sludge with an aura that is inverted. Where the Dark aura is radiating out of my being, the Fallen Dark aura keeps power to itself, unknowingly making it less powerful. My irises, I assume, are a dead gray, instead of the blood red they become when I use my powers or the electric blue-green they are when I am not using my mental abilities.

I am still examining myself when I feel something calling to me. The call is so compelling, its whispers so alluring that it takes all my willpower and self-control not to follow it at once. The whipping scars crisscrossing my back burn, a reminder of a time when I didn't have self-control and father was there to witness it.

When I regain some sort of sense of mind, I realize this might be what brought me out of the sleep. Without hesitation, I focus my mind and let it travel on a path toward the call.

Since I am really an unblemished Dark being, I have many more abilities than the Fallen Dark beings surrounding me. My two favorites are mind control and physical strength, both being the most helpful to me with my experience. I mask the power that radiates from my body while I follow the trail. A trail is peculiar; it not only leads me to the person's mind, but it also shows me a little bit about the soul of the person.

Most untainted Light creatures have trails that are varying shades of white, closer to gray the more they have sinned without good reason. Fallen Light creatures have trails that are a very dark gray, close to black, but not quite. Untainted Dark creatures have trails that are inky black, and closer to gray the more they have sinned without good reason, like with untainted Light beings. The only way to tell the difference between those who have sinned enough are the differences between their auras. Fallen Dark creatures have trails that are a muddy black, much like a mix of black and brown. These are the main four types of trails, besides the Spirits' Vessels' trails, which are always red, yellow, blue, or a mix of these colors. Humans are all the same shade, a perfect mix of black and white.

I mentally stand upon this new trail, and within my first glance, I am shocked. It is larger than any of the other trails I have walked on, signaling emotional strength, and it is a pure gold, radiating untainted Light aura on the left side and untainted Dark aura on the right. Only one has been rumored to hold such a trail of mind, according to books left by the last few untainted Dark seers who met with the last Prophet: the wielder of the Lion's Gift.

The untainted Dark aura calls to my own, and, before my power can mix with the chosen one's, I pull my energy into myself, and I scoff. As long as my father has me on the side of the Fallen Dark, nothing can stop us from bringing justice or bring us to 'unity'. I feel the dark heat of anger and revenge, creeping up to my head before I push it down. This new foe will be protected like a fortress and I need to focus with a clear mind.

Let me see who this new warrior is and how skilled he will be. I have been training for centuries to defeat the golden 'chosen one'. Father will be enraged that I am not truly a Fallen Dark, but he will forget everything once I bring home the severed head of the oh-so-special one.